On another front, the one-child-per-family policy, implemented by coercion, maybe leading to grave economic concerns today, but that is an issue apart, from the central one of rights. Indians still recall the Emergency's birth-control forays as a great incursion into their rights.

Also to be noted down as we move forward, are facts like the restrictions on Chinese citizens that exist, against their freely relocating from one place to another, and China's 'liberal' labour policy in its Free Economic Zones, that would make a slave owner wince. As for China's law courts, the question is not, as in India, one of slowness of justice, but, whether they exist at all.

From all the foregoing, what lessons is an Indian to draw? That the imperatives of economics must over-ride those of rights and justice? That he must prepare to surrender himself for achieving an economy such as the one claimed to have succeeded in China? One fringe in Indian society, covets world-power status through any means—even Chinese—, so that India may stare down all criticism. Another fringe at the other extreme, dreams of an egalitarian utopia in India, that China is supposed to have arrived at.

The Environment: Let us conclude this exercise with a brief look at China's environment record. For those exercised over the Tehri and Narmada dams, the Three Gorges Dam in China would be an eerie story to read. It will cost $26 billion, rise 180 metres and displace 2 million people. Here's the official view and here, a contrarian. The question for us here, is not its merits or whether it will succeed. The point is, the project has raced ahead for seven years with barely any debate or protest within China. Similar is the case regarding wildlife. Having decimated its considerable population of tigers to the last animal, a hungry Chinese market is causing them to be hunted down elsewhere too.

Closing the case:

The preceding exercise may seem an excess in China baiting. It is not. Neither is it a subliminal advocacy of China's ways over India's. Far from it. The purpose is simply, to say this: Indians should be proud and deem themselves fortunate, they are able to pursue—within the ambit of their Constitution—whatever life they choose. It is important for them to be informed of "the right circumstances and the right policies" that enabled the Chinese miracle, to which the Hon'ble British Minister so approvingly referred.